Old Montreal dusk colours

With cool, overcast weather I sought out artificial lighting and colours to paint in Old Montreal. This corner shop was decorated pink and orange inside, with some decorations outside too, including a smiley face. The smiley face is actually a form of graffiti, someone puts a large sticker up, in this case, it was left up by the shop keepers. 

Pink shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

What gives, a painter in Old Montreal and he paints a scene of an alley full of dumpsters. A big chunky fire escape also added ambiance to the scene.  

Dumpster alley fire escape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This restaurant had bright yellow signs and lighting, which I abstracted into a series of squares and rectangles. The rest of the scene was cool and gloomy. 

Yellow restaurant abstraction, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Peel basin, tents overpass towers commuter train

Nearby the highway overpass at Peel basin, this group of tents were set up and people living in them. I captured that in the painting along with traffic, and part of a new condo in the background. That red thing is an umbrella not a pylon, I wasn't wearing my glasses for painting today!

Tents overpass traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

In the background are a few of the condo towers built recently, like the last ten years or so, with the elevated train (el) and canal in the foreground. The central wash blurred out, it was difficult conditions to paint in with cool dark and humid air. 

Towers el canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

The commuter trains were transporting people out of the city, so I composed this scene to give an impression of the train being lonely. Like, heading off into the sky almost. To do so, I moved the bridge supports and omitted one, and put the train off to the left as far as possible. On the right, you have a condo, with solid terrain across the bottom. Intentional back-wash, using a yellow wash, created the eerie glow in the sky. It was unpredictable painting today. There are more of Old Montreal I will post soon. 

Headin home, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Lave auto signs and lights

One of the few businesses remaining along Maisonneuve street, its Lave Auto, French for car wash. They proudly advertise that the washing is done by hand, as opposed to automated buffing machines. Several people get work here, so it creates jobs to have small businesses like this in town. 

Lave auto signs, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

A neon tube light created an eerie glow inside the car wash. Once car was going through, and a truck was parked out front. The outer facade was once red brick but has been painted over several times to cover graffiti. 

Lave auto neon light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Yellow and orange trees provided a backdrop for the Lave Auto, with many sings and the garage doors visible. Unfortunately there was a for sale sign out front in among the signs, so this business is set to change ownership with an uncertain future. 

Lave auto horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Overcast autumn canal near bridge

The leaves are starting to go red orange and yellow, with some falling onto the ground and water. It was overcast today, soft violet-grey and cyan tinted the canal. I used plenty of quin violet (PV55) a modern pigment that most brands carry. For the tree it was an interesting mix of perylene maroon (PR179) and pyrol orange (PO73). 

Autumn overcast canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Working up a scene like this in light mist-rain condition is tough, the paint constantly soaks into the paper making dark areas grey out. With a lot of experience in these conditions, I adapt my technique to avoid excessive over-washes, and apply darks first when the paper is still relatively dry. 

Bridge canal graffiti, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Here the rain-mist picked up a bit, but I managed to get through it and produce this painting. An orange buoy in the canal contrasted against the red-orange vines in the background. 

Orange buoy vines Autumn, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Parc Paul-Dozois, insistent tree over sign

Parc Paul-Dozois is a narrow, urban space between Maisonneuve and st Catherine, surrounded by tall apartment complexes. Its laid out as a classic grid, with tall trees and sitting benches. Squirrels and pigeons were searching around for food. I sketched out a few animals, not to scale, and popped in a background scene of the shady park. 

Pigeon squirrel shady park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

It was a shady park, like, locals were hanging out relaxing, picnicking, walking and talking, but so were the Montreal park patrol. I see them in certain parks, in groups of two wearing a City of Montreal uniform, not police officially, but park supervisors. They are apparently there to enforce health guidelines and prevent illegal gatherings, and can probably call emergency service if someone is in trouble, or making trouble. They usually take a look at what I am doing, so luckily painting is not a public disturbance, at least most of the time. 

Shady park, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This type of tree, it has small oval pointed leaves with jagged edging, will grow just about anywhere. It has long tap-roots, incredibly strong like steel, and will eventually turn into a massive, towering tree. They grow in areas that can not be mowed, like next to fences, cracks in sidewalks, and near traffic signs like this one. Its near the Ville Marie underground tunnel, where a construction project has been ongoing for many years now. Its amusing that this project is taking so long the trees are literally growing here!

Insistent tree over sign, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

 

Downtown east Montreal, graffiti corner, awning, China town

This scene is looking due west along Rue de Boisbriand, towards the graffiti corner. large trucks tend to park here all the time, and groups of tourists came by with a guide. Its a sort of rough and tumble part of the city, but has plenty of character. This is the first painting I have done with my new reading glasses which I brought out on location yesterday. It was neat to see what I was doing clearly again. 

Truck graffiti corner, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

On this corner, st Catherine east and Av. de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, there is an old hat maker building that still has its original signage, although now it seems to be a hotel, or maybe its closed for business not sure. With the glasses, I decided to tackle this scene which has more detail than I would usually try to tackle. I am starting to realize why my London Ontario paintings were so detailed... my eyesight was 20/20 back then!

Henri hat maker awning, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

And a scene down in China town, looking due west, featuring the olive-green trees and orange-red flags. Plenty of people were here, tourists, locals, local-tourists, and one fellow walked through the crowd completely naked causing much ado, although he seemed to be in distress. There is a very large shelter nearby for un-housed people. 

China town flags street, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

A few more paintings by the old train yard

Name a worse place to ride your bicycle, near a glass factory! In the back area, I am standing near Marguerite Bourgeoys Park looking due west, you see a great pile of glass through a fence. It tinkles every now and then as the glass tumbles down. And so do I... I mean, there are only a few places with enough cover to go the bathroom on these rides. Too much information. But seriously, its about the third or fourth time at this location and so I've had practice painting the glass effect, studying the colours and textures. 

Glass factory vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Grandé Studios is part of the old train yard in point st. Charles, the buildings converted into entertainment buildings. Here, I am standing up on the berm that runs along the train tracks, looking east. The hill sides are covered in grass and wild flowers. 

Grassy hills studio, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Similar location but looking at the prominent water tower that has the name of the studio, not my initials! 

Water tower studio, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This interesting scene was done in Verdun, they built a skateboard/bike riding trail which undulates around in twisted oval patterns. I actually rode my clunky hybrid bike around the trail a bit and almost regretted it... the wheelbase is little long for the sharp rises, but there were no other people here so I finally gave it a shot. Wheee! Stopped and made a painting at the top. 

Riding trail, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026